I recently got asked on Quora.com: Where did your favourite cruise take you?
I gave my answer and I stand by it — but, on reflection, I realise that it’s almost impossible to name a favourite cruise, or a favourite travel experience of any kind, because they are all so different. And that’s what makes travel fun and compelling.
Before I continue, here’s the answer I gave to the question:
I’ve enjoyed all my cruises, but my favourite was my first: on Royal Caribean’s Mariner of the Seas from Barcelona to Dubai, down the Suez Canal. The stops included Alexandria, for the pyramids at Giza (Cairo), and Jordan for the unmissable ancient “rose city” of Petra. Because there were a lot of sea days, the entertainment program was very good.
I met some very interesting people, including an disbarred lawyer and ex-con who wrote for a British TV soap opera, a man who got so drunk they locked him up in the brig, and a fellow who travelled the world producing and playing in Beatles tribute bands.
On top of that, there was an element of danger because of the small risk of attack by Somalian pirates. We stopped to take on board “men and equipment”, and it was lights off at night as we sailed through the Gulf of Aden.
And yes, that’s all true. But it’s occurred to me since I wrote that answer that I’ve had entirely different, equally wonderful, cruises and other trips, by land or air, and to single out one seems rather unfair.
To me, travel about pushing beyond your own boundaries, not just to do the things you want to do, or you think you ought to do, but to do stuff that you may never have even considered doing. The trip I mentioned was booked on a whim, because I had the time and the money to do it.
There’s adventure and joy to be found at every turn. Every time you step away from your home base, you are opening yourself up to something exciting and unique.
If you try to rank those experiences against each other afterwards, you risk diminishing them all.
